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Biography of a Piano Teacher
My name is Sadie Shipp, and I was born in Longview, Texas, 1997. I have lived most of my life in Montgomery, Texas. Before the age of twelve, my family lived in multiple states due to my father’s work opportunities. This allowed us to live in Louisiana, Arkansas, and Virginia. In 2009, we moved back to Texas, and here is where we stayed. As the second oldest of a large family, I grew up with twelve siblings. We were homeschooled, played outside in the woods, learned how to bake and so forth. I have the fondest memories of my childhood.
At an early age, my siblings and I (through the help and inspiration of my mother) started businesses and worked as little entrepreneurs. In 2008, we started a home bakery lovingly named ‘Patty Cakes’ in which we baked delicious sweets and cakes selling door-to-door during the holidays. For five years, growing rapidly, we baked until it became too large to contain. When we moved back to Texas, we purchased a house on a golf course. Through my mother’s suggestion, we started selling snacks and drinks to the golfers. This business helped me understand monetary values, management, and overall entrepreneurial skills. To this day, my younger siblings still run the stand. I started babysitting and pet/house sitting as I grew older and still have a network of neighbors whom I help throughout the year.
After those blessed years of childhood, I graduated high school and then enrolled in Lonestar Community College graduating with an Associate of Science Degree, Cum Laude. During my college years, and after taking education classes, I realized that I wanted to be a teacher. For the past three years, I have been teaching elementary school curriculum to a homeschool family.
When I was sixteen, my sister and I received a beautiful keyboard for Christmas. The following year, I started taking lessons at Arbor Music, where I now teach. I was taught how to play and read sheet music and after taking lessons for fifteen months, I had advanced to a mid-intermediate level. As my life got busier, I paused and was not able to practice. During this time, I started teaching my siblings how to play and realized that I loved teaching piano. I resumed practicing piano and advanced farther in my personal lessons to become a more experienced pianist and a better teacher.
I started advertising to teach beginner in-home piano lessons and quickly acquired students. I would often go to Arbor Music to buy my students’ piano books. One day, the owner of Arbor Music offered me a soon-to-be vacant studio room as a platform to teach. Ironically, this room was the room of my former teacher. I gladly accepted the offer to come in on a later date for an official interview and assessment. I have been teaching beginner and mid-intermediate level students at Arbor Music since November 2019, as well as in-home students.
My life is not completely revolved around the piano, although I do practice and try to improve my own skills. I love traveling, sewing, listening to music, attending piano concerts, photography and spending time with family. I stay quite busy pet sitting year-round and teaching my students how to play the instrument I love; hopefully inspiring them to become better musicians.
Thank you!
